‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.’
John 15:12-14 (ESV)

At the end of October we gathered at the Lord’s Table on our communion Sunday to remember the great sacrifice, that as believers, we have been bought at. The body of Christ broken, the blood of the Saviour shed all so that we could know and be known by the living God. As we go into November we have an opportunity to remember the sacrifice given in two world wars and multiple conflicts since then. It is a reminder not only of those that lost their lives but of the cost of the freedom we experience as a nation. So why do we need to meet regularly at the Lord’s Table? Why do we meet annually on a Sunday where we remember and give thanks for those that have died in service to their ? We do these things because we can so easily forget. We hold and express opinions freely, we live in a place where we choose those that govern over us, we live in a nation that seeks to protect the weakest in society, and so I could go on, but it is easy to forget the cost that brought these freedoms and privileges. In the same way the human mind can quickly forget and the human heart quickly become cold to what Christ did on Calvary’s cross and the freedom and privileges that he brought to all who trust and obey him. As Dustin Crowe writes ‘…in the Bible, a call to remember—especially when tied to a covenant sign or ceremony—is a vibrant, powerful, and participatory concept where we recalibrate our lives according to what’s being remembered. According to Herman Ridderbos in his outline of Paul’s theology, “It is not merely a subjective recalling to mind, but an active manifestation of the continuing and actual significance of the death of Christ.”’ As we move forward from again meeting at the table of our Lord may we remember all that it means but more than that may we recalibrate our lives for the next leg of our earthly journey according to what we remember there. May the Lord richly bless you in his service.

Every blessing
Gordon